Donkeys

We have a pair of donkeys that have been roaming the neighborhood since we got back home to Boggy Thicket.  They are a pair only in the sense that there are two of them and they’re always together; one is tall and slender with a short sleek coat, while the other is very short and stocky – it may be a miniature - with a shaggy coat that would look more appropriate in the dead of winter.

Their home pasture is about 1/2 mile north of us and visible from our back yard, but they don’t stay there anymore.  They are more likely to be at the O'Donnell's  across the street, where the tall one has learned to tilt the bird feeders to empty all the seeds; or next door at the Graff’s, enjoying a cooling dip in their pond.  So far, they seem to be wandering the neighborhood in search of green grass and water each day, and then returning home each night.

So why are they wandering, and why are they not getting what they need at home?  I got the explanation from a kid who was borrowing my floor jack to change a tire.  “They belong to my uncle,” he told me “but right now he is in jail for setting his house on fire…He was having some family problems.”